#Gaijin Sample: Maria

Contents

"I do not know this country's gods, but I know this village's children."

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#1st Dan — Portuguese Castaway

#Scent

A young woman who came to Japan on a Nanban ship. Eighteen. She speaks clumsy Japanese, makes the sign of the cross, and fires a teppo. She does not want to return home, because she has nowhere to return to.

#Background — How the Adventure Began

Maria grew up in an orphanage in Lisbon. At thirteen, she boarded a ship bound for Japan as a missionary's assistant. After a four-month voyage, she arrived on the coast of Hizen (肥前). The missionary died of illness soon after taking up his post, and Maria inherited his baggage, a small pouch of gunpowder, and one Tanegashima teppo.

A foreigner with no language, no status, and no house had only two paths to survival: be sold as a slave, or put a price on the skills she had. A local lord who saw the teppo hired her. At first she was an interpreter and teppo keeper; later, a shooter herself. In her first battle, Maria hit one oni from twenty paces away. The lord told her, "You have become a person of this country."

Maria did not change her name into a Japanese form. She remained "Maria." But in her heart, when the children of one village called her "Lady Maria," she was no longer Portuguese.

#Law

Maria — Gaijin 1st dan
Wounds 3, Defense 13(Nanban armor), Energy 11
Courage+2, Finesse+1, Physique+0, Wisdom-1, Presence+0, Fate+1
Background: Wanderer | Heart: No Heart

Weapon: Tanegashima (supplies) + ammunition pouch

Maneuver List:

Typical Breath: maintain Rear Zone → Direct Shot(2) + Reload(2) = 4. Wait the next round.

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#5th Dan — Founder of Nanban-ryu

#Scent

Through five years of field experience, she named her own teppo operation art Nanban-ryu. It is not a school, because there is no official school inheritor, but as a Self-Taught Style, it cannot be read. As she drove yoma away from villages, she gradually gained the identity of a protector.

#Background — How She Came This Far

After 1st dan, Maria took charge of the Kagura Domain borderlands for four years. Border villages were vulnerable to yoma attacks, and her teppo was the most effective tool for stopping those raids. In the third year, Maria developed the Repeating Gun technique: firing two guns alternately. She then added extended-range design and began calling her techniques Nanban-ryu. There is no Japanese school inheritor, but her independent system cannot be read (opponent's defense check -2 in the first duel).

Around the same time, Maria reunited with the shinobi Kage. Kage had been assigned to an infiltration-scouting mission in a village under her protection. The two worked together on three missions, and all three succeeded. To Kage's first question — "Why protect this country?" — Maria answered, "Not this country. I protect these children." At that moment, Maria's Heart moved from No Heart (無心) to Compassion (慈).

#Law

Maria — Gaijin 5th dan
Wounds 4(3+Tough 1), Defense 13(Nanban armor), Energy 12(10+Finesse 2)
Courage+3, Finesse+2, Physique+0, Wisdom-1, Presence+0, Fate+1
Background: Wanderer route B (Wild Sense) | Heart: Compassion (Way of Emptiness)
School: Nanban-ryu(Self-Taught Style, Archery)

Weapons: Tanegashima + Nicchoho(paired pistols) + repeating-fire design

Additional Maneuvers:

Typical Breath: maintain Rear Zone → Rapid Fire(1) + Rapid Fire(1) + Reload(2) + reserved Direct Shot(0) = 4. 3 shots without reloading.

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#10th Dan (Tatsujin) — "Artillery Commander Maria"

#Scent

The highest authority on teppo operation in the realm. Several daimyo seek her counsel. Yet she still lives in the Kagura Domain border village where the descendants of the lord who first accepted her now reside. Renown Title: Class Capstone — Artillery Commander.

#Background — How She Earned the Renown Title

Maria's legend was completed in the bombardment of Minamoto Castle. When a great fiend tried to capture Minamoto Castle, Maria personally commanded the cannon units and landed shells precisely in the fiend's camp. She did not do it alone. Five teppo squads she had trained and two cannon squads were with her. Dozens of shells interrupted the fiend's ritual, and meanwhile Masamune's Front Zone charged in and destroyed the fiend's core.

After that day, Maria received the Renown Title Artillery Commander. She designed a Nanban Ozutsu (南蠻大筒), a masterwork cannon, herself and deployed it on the battlefield. Her subordinates call her "Lady Maria." Still.

#Law

Maria — Gaijin Tatsujin
Wounds 5(3+Physique 1+Tough 1), Defense 13(Nanban armor), Energy 14(10+Finesse 3+Speed +1)
Courage+3, Finesse+3, Physique+1, Wisdom-1, Presence+1, Fate+1
Background: Wanderer Tatsujin (guardian of the border)
Heart: Compassion (complete)
School: Nanban-ryu (secret technique — cannon)
Renown Title: Artillery Commander (Class Capstone)

Weapons: Nanban Ozutsu (masterwork — self-designed cannon) + Tanegashima × 2

Additional Maneuvers:

"The thunder god's cannon sweeps the battlefield clean."